The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1887-02-12

An ''Act GO Encourage the Planting
ana PTOpa gaaasn 81 Fish, and %
Protect the Bams.o

4
Protect she ssms.'
Senator Briggs, who is the author OF
this bill, aud under whose supervision
it passed the Senate, made the follow
lng argume mt in its favor before the
Assembly Committee:
This bill simply provides that any
person who has heretofore planted, or
may hereafter plant, any fish of any
kind, in any stream, lake, pool or pond
OF water, within this State, where no
cd. .ble or eatable fish heretofore exist
ed, shall have the ownership ot such
fish So planted; and prcscribcs the
penalty tor catching or taking such
fish without the consent of the owner.
The proviso attached to the second
section of the printed bill provides
that any person having the private
ownership OF land through which such
stream 50 planted flows, or upon which
such lake, pool or pond Of water bord-
ers, shall at all times have the right
aud privilege to take or catch such fish
in reasonable quantities for his own
table use.
The law does not apply to any
stream of any klnd where any charac
ter OF eatable or edible fish has hereto
fore existed. 1t does not apply to the
Humboldt river or any of its trlbutar-
les; nor to the Truckee river or any of
It's tributaries; nor to the Carson river
or any of its tributaries; nor to the
Walker river or any oil its tributaries
or To any kind or character OF stream.
lake, pool, or pond of water within
this state, where tish of any kind or
char acter has heretofore existed or
does now exist. 1t simply applies to
streams, lakes, pools or ponds OF water
within this State that are now entirely
bare or destitute CT any kind of fish
aud which, unless tish are planted
therein, must forever remain barren OF
tsh-ro such streams as rise IN the
mountain SUBMITS, flow down the
mountain sides and sink in the sands
al the base-Streams which have no
connection whatever with other
streams.
The person who has the energy and
industry TO go to the expense oil con
yeying fish 100 or 200 miles ut cost
ol two hundred or three hundred dol
lars To plant tish IN stream, where no
fish before existed, should have SOME
protection for his plant though 1t be
public stream or body OF water upon
public lands. tie should be protected
against the greed aud vandalism OF the
" bite man aud against the unscrupu-
ious cunning OF the Indian.
Throughout the State there are
thousands Of short streams not to ex.
ceed live mlles IN length nov entirely
barren OF tsh and tue Ean who plants
hsh therein should be considered
pubic Denetactor aud should De pre-.
tected IN his Oenlticient work Pro-
tect them IN their laudaOle work aud
soon every lltlle stream, lake, pond or
pool Of water within the State Will be
tecmlng with fish, in suriiclentt quan
titles To support our entire population.
Without tnese safeguards Individual
enterprise Is paralyzed, and our
streams will forever remain barren oil
tsh.
Although there is annually appro-
priated from the Genera. Fund ot the
State, money to pay tor planting hsh,
not dollar OF 1t ever reaches tue re.
mote counties OF Eureka, White Pine,
Lincoln, Nye and Esmeraida. The
Fish Comm issioner never gets mile
from the G. p. knlroad, and scarcely
y mic from OrmsDy, Masnoe, Doug
Ius or Lyon counties. The law does
not effect Humboldt and Elko coun
ties for tue streams OF those counties
are already full of fish. l would add
that after the fish are protected few
wears, aud the streams become Stock
ed, the law can he repealed, and the
streams thrown open to the pubic.
Give US achance to plant and protect
fish in the deserts OF Southeastern
Nvada, and the future generation Will
bless the Acts of this Legislature.
If we could read the secret history
of our enemies we should find In each
mans life sorrew and suffering enough